Monte Carlo simulation of growth of nanowhiskers

The growth of silicon nanowhiskers on the Si (111) surface activated with Au is studied by Monte Carlo simulation. The dependences of the rate of growth of whiskers on the temperature, deposition rate, and catalyst droplet diameter are obtained, and the morphological properties of the growing wirelike nanocrystal are studied. In addition to the growth of nanowhiskers, a number of experimentally observed effects, such as migration of the droplet from the whisker top, faceting of the whisker sidewalls, and branching are established for the model system. It is shown that, under certain conditions of wetting of the whisker material with the catalyst, formation of hollow nanowhiskers is possible.